A Letter to Saulos Chilima

To Saulos Chilima and all Airtel Staff,

I write to express my dissappointment in your service provision in our area. For the past three days we have had no network in the Mulanje Muloza area. An area of around 5KM has not be able to connect to your network since December 24 from around 2pm. This means that we have not been able to make or receive calls, access the internet, send SMS, and even call your customer care service.

The worst thing is that you did not warn us of this network interruption of even acknowledge the problem through any media. You cannot say that you don't know about this problem because it has been happening in the past and your men were coming to repair what breaks down. However this has come at a very akward time when we were supposed to be communicating with friends and relatives over this festive period.

Apart from the fact that we have been affected in our personal issues, a lot of businesses have been affected because of this network. As you are aware Muloza is where Malawi borders with Mozambique and the area in question includes where there are Immigration, Police and Customs offices. As am writing these important offices have been affected in one way or another.

On behalf of thousands of people who have been affected by your poor service, I demand that you apologize to us and restore the network once for all. The world has changed and we cannot live without communicating with the rest of the world so the least we can have is a network that behaves.

Looking forward to hearing from you in either way you deem appropriate.

On behalf of Muloza residents,

Vincent Kumwenda

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Two weeks without zain internet in Muloza

It all started as a small problem which we all thought will last for a few hours. Zain internet just stopped working and we could not access the net on our mobile phones or dongles. A few hours turned into days, days into 2 weeks and we are still counting.

Muloza border is just over 20KM from Mulanje boma but one can access the internet at Mulanje, Chitakale and surrounding areas.

We have called Zain customer care several times getting assurance that the problem will be rectified but days are passing we still can't connect.

I was forced to buy a sim card for Zain's competitors, TNM just to be updated on various issues. At times I use Mozambican mCel sim card just to make ends meet.

I love Zain's internet because its cheaper and faster but this problem has left me wondering how serious they are. One can claim that the area am staying at is not as busy as the cities are, but be reminded that the mobile technology revolution is changing things. People are now using their mobile phones to access the internet from remote places including Muloza.

Zain Malawi please connect us to the internet for we are starving. Some of us had just subscribed to the Zain monthly data bundle but we've hardly used it.

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How independence day was celebrated in Muloza, Mulanje

There were people everywhere. Clad in their Sunday best clothes, they walked around the streets of the not-so-busy trading centre of Limbuli. With bottles of minerals and beer, they celebrated in a christmas style the 46 years of independence.

Thats how people celebrated Republic day in Muloza a border town in Mulanje. People always look for a reason to celebrate and 6th July gives that reason. As am writing this post there are still parties going on in various houses and people have thronged drinking joints finishing off the celebration.

I had a chat with several people who told me that people here take an example of how republic day and every holiday in neighbouring Mozambique is celebrating. There is alot of merrymaking in days like these and alot of Malawians cross the border to join their neighbours.

Am told families bought rice, chicken and many favourite foods to spice up the day in their homes. It was my first time to see 6th July celebrated in this way.

The main celebrations were held at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe where there was a display of various traditional dances, poetry, speeches, awarding outstanding Malawians in various fields and a football match between Malawi Reserve and Lesotho. Malawi won by a goal scored by Panganani Ndovie.

Happy independence day!!

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ARE MALAWIANS MORE SUPERSTITIOUS?

The past three weeks have seen lots of stories about witchcraft making it to the front pages of the local dairies. From here in Mulanje where Agness Musolo delivered a 'stone' to Blantyre where a dead man 'resurrected' through Chileka where a man 'locked' his wife's private parts.

Various commentators have voiced out their views on all these strange happenings which have even prompted reputable geologists, psychologists,and specialist doctors in various fields to conduct experiments.

We all know that witchcraft exists and it is widely practiced in Malawi and many parts of the world (don't ask me how i came to this conclusion). But to find that all of a sudden these news are making headlines and are receiving positive comments keeps one wondering as to whether Malawians are becoming more superstitious.

A lot of property was damaged and people were injured in Bangwe because of chicken believed to be behind the road accidents (superstition). This is no simple matter and is likely to happen another day at another place where lots of accidents happen. A few days later a girl was thrown out on a witchcraft plane in the same area, Bangwe. In Mulanje everyone believes that the spirits in the mountain are behind the disappearance of Gabriel Bushman. From the village headman to those who organised the rescue operation all believe that the spirits are behind this. (More superstition).

The man who 'resurrected' in Blantyre is happily coming back to terms with his family after spending 6 months in the 'grave'. Instead of the authorities who are responsible for our health, safety and welfare, the 'resurrected man', Moses Levison is in the protection of a witch doctor (so these doctors are witches!!) More superstition.

When the scientists concluded that Agness Musolo did not give birth to the 'stone' but rather inserted it to the birth passage, more voices were against these finding choosing to believe the work of magic. (Superstition) I thought these are respected, learned professionals who are supposed to guide us in issues they know better than us.

Some thing ought to be done fast before we are all brainwashed to believe in witchcraft. I don't know what has to be done to deal with this (is it to adopt the witchcraft law or invest more time in prayer).

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